create_debug_core - 2022.1 English

Vivado Design Suite Tcl Command Reference Guide (UG835)
Document ID
UG835
Release Date
2022-05-05
Version
2022.1 English

Create a new Integrated Logic Analyzer debug core

Syntax

create_debug_core [‑quiet] [‑verbose] <name> <type>

Returns

New debug_core object.

Usage

Name Description
[-quiet] Ignore command errors
[-verbose] Suspend message limits during command execution
<name> Name of the new debug core instance
<type> Type of the new debug core

Categories

Debug, XDC

Description

Adds a new Integrated Logic Analyzer (ILA) debug core to an open netlist design in the current project. The ILA debug core defines ports for connecting nets to for debugging the design in the logic analyzer feature of the Vivado® Design Suite available through the open_hw command.

ILA debug cores can be added to the RTL source files of the design using debug cores from the Xilinx® IP catalog, or added to the netlist design after synthesis using this command. Refer to the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Vivado Programming and Debugging (UG908) for more information on using ILA debug cores.
Note: A debug core can only be added to an open netlist design using this command.

The ILA core is created with a CLK port and a PROBE port by default. The CLK port defines the clock domain for the ILA core, and allows you to probe signals that are common to that domain. The CLK port only supports one clock signal, and so you must create a separate debug core for each clock domain. The PROBE port provides a probe point for nets marked for debug with the MARK_DEBUG property. The PROBE port offers multiple channels to probe multiple nets from a single ILA core.

You can add new ports to an existing ILA core with the create_debug_port command, and connect signals to the ports using the connect_debug_port command.

Arguments

-quiet - (Optional) Execute the command quietly, returning no messages from the command. The command also returns TCL_OK regardless of any errors encountered during execution.
Note: Any errors encountered on the command-line, while launching the command, will be returned. Only errors occurring inside the command will be trapped.
-verbose - (Optional) Temporarily override any message limits and return all messages from this command.
Note: Message limits can be defined with the set_msg_config command.

<name> - (Required) The name of the ILA debug core to add to the project.

<type> - (Required) The type of debug core to insert. Only the ILA debug core is currently supported in the Vivado® tool. The ILA debug core simply adds another load onto a connected net without otherwise altering it.
Note: When the ILA core is added to the project, the tool also adds a Debug Hub core (labtools_xsdbm_v1) as a container for one or more ILA cores. However, you cannot directly add a Debug Hub to the project.

Examples

The following example opens the synthesis run, creating the specified netlist design name, and then creates a new ILA debug core in that design: 
open_run -name netlist_1 synth_1
create_debug_core myCore ila
The properties of the debug core can be customized by using the set_property command as in the following example: 
set_property C_DATA_DEPTH 2048 [get_debug_cores myCore]
This example marks a sequence of nets for debugging using the MARK_DEBUG property, creates a new debug core, connects the CLK port to the appropriate clock domain, and assigns the debug nets to the PROBE ports on the core: 
set_property MARK_DEBUG true [get_nets [list {control_reg[0]} {control_reg[1]} \
   {control_reg[2]} {control_reg[3]} {control_reg[4]} {control_reg[5]} \
   {control_reg[6]} {control_reg[7]} {control_reg[8]} {control_reg[9]} \
   {control_reg[10]} {control_reg[11]} {control_reg[12]} {control_reg[13]} \
   {control_reg[14]} {control_reg[15]} {control_reg[16]} {control_reg[17]} \
   {control_reg[18]} {control_reg[19]} {control_reg[20]} {control_reg[21]} \
   {control_reg[22]} {control_reg[23]} {control_reg[24]} {control_reg[25]} \
   {control_reg[26]} {control_reg[27]} {control_reg[28]} {control_reg[29]} \
   {control_reg[30]} {control_reg[31]}]]
create_debug_core u_ila_0 ila
set_property port_width 1 [get_debug_ports u_ila_0/CLK]
connect_debug_port u_ila_0/CLK [get_nets [list wbClk ]]
set_property port_width 32 [get_debug_ports u_ila_0/PROBE0]
connect_debug_port u_ila_0/PROBE0 [get_nets [list {control_reg[0]}
   {control_reg[1]} {control_reg[2]} {control_reg[3]} {control_reg[4]} \
   {control_reg[5]} {control_reg[6]} {control_reg[7]} {control_reg[8]} \
   {control_reg[9]} {control_reg[10]} {control_reg[11]} {control_reg[12]} \
   {control_reg[13]} {control_reg[14]} {control_reg[15]} {control_reg[16]} \
   {control_reg[17]} {control_reg[18]} {control_reg[19]} {control_reg[20]} \
   {control_reg[21]} {control_reg[22]} {control_reg[23]} {control_reg[24]} \
   {control_reg[25]} {control_reg[26]} {control_reg[27]} {control_reg[28]} \
   {control_reg[29]} {control_reg[30]} {control_reg[31]} ]]

See Also